Do you smell something funny?

Sheltering-in-place may be the critical step that saves one’s life during a hazardous materials spill or chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear attack. 

According to www.ready.marines.mil, “Sheltering-in-place means to take temporary protection in a structure or vehicle — typically your workplace or residence.” SIP can often be confused with terms such as “lockdown” or “seek shelter.” 

“Lockdown is a term that is used specifically during an active shooter incident and “seek shelter” is used during a destructive weather event such as a tornado. Certain words mean certain things and require individuals to take certain steps to ensure their safety. 

“The best defense for a chemical hazard is avoidance,” Marvin Thomas, CBRN protection officer, Marine Corps Logistics Base Albany, said. “Some best practices are to stay inside, shutting off heating, ventilating and air conditioning  systems, covering all windows, doors, vents and power outlets with plastic sheeting. It wouldn’t hurt to have towels to place at the bottom of doors to seal off outside air. Items such as water and other personal items would be helpful in the event SIP is going for an extended period of time. Last, but not least, monitor personnel for sickness and health issues.” 

Preplanning for incidents such as this are covered in Base Order 3301.1, MCLB Albany Emergency Action Plan. 

“It is critical to tailor the base plan to the employees’ working environments,” Thomas said. “Having situational awareness of where the HVAC shut off, vents and power outlets are differs from one building and one room to another.” 

Base personnel will most likely be alerted to execute SIP procedures by the Mass Notification Warning System, which is a combination of the giant voice (outside speakers) and AtHoc (email, phones, text messages). 

Base and tenant organizations’ personnel should ensure their information is up-to-date in AtHoc so that they will be notified if a HAZMAT spill or CBRN attack occurs. 

The base will be conducting a SIP Drill, Sept. 30.